Ever since Donald Trump successfully won the presidency in 2016, celebrities have tossed around the idea of throwing their hat in the political arena. Now, Chance The Rapper, a Chicago native, is contemplating running for Mayor of the Windy City.
Although it might seem like Chance is new to the political arena, he's not. It's actually in his blood. His father, Ken Williams-Bennett, has worked for President Barack Obama and Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Interestingly enough, Chance has been a critic of Emanuel.
“Rahm is the mayor of Chicago. My dad used to work for him. He just doesn’t need to be mayor anymore. I’m pretty sure he’s seeking re-election in Chicago, but he’s closed, I think, over a hundred schools in Chicago, tried to hide and settle the Laquan McDonald tapes when he was murdered by the police,” Chance told Genius prior to Emanuel's announcement not to seek reelection. “It’s important that people know we have a sh**ty mayor, but I’m sure everybody else has sh**ty mayors that they need to worry about. I just really hope that he’s not actually gonna run again because it’s over for his a**, yo. It’s over for his a**.”
According to Rolling Stone, Chance appeared on Vice President Joe Biden's podcast to discuss Chicago politics and a potential run. His theory was simple: those who run the city are going to screw up anyways so really, Chicagoans have nothing to lose by electing him.
"I think there’s an easy way to look at it like a blanket thing: ‘Chance does good things, in totality.’ But if you look at the specific things I’m working on, and look at it critically, it’s usually something that has something to do with equity, to make sure that everyone gets what they deserve — not necessarily equality, because if there’s people that are set back then equal shares don’t make them equal," Chance explained. "Or it has something to do with women’s rights, or black women’s rights, period. Education. It’s a lot in the same area. Homelessness. You could call it all economics.”
On Monday morning, Chance tweeted out a vague message:
Im thinkin maybe I should
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) October 15, 2018
And a few hours later, he followed it up with a media advisory for Tuesday morning.
City Hall pull up pic.twitter.com/RO31aO9bPI
— Chance The Rapper (@chancetherapper) October 15, 2018
Now the million dollar question: will Chance the Rapper become Chance the Mayor?